Dumb . . . Dumber . . . Dumbest!!  These are the adjectives that best describe what the educational system in America has become. Dumb is when teachers started teaching to tests instead of teaching to educate.  When they no longer cared about exposing children to the wondrous world of learning; they only cared about getting funding from the government based on the school’s performance of the standardized tests.  Of course, nowadays the teachers aren’t too well educated so it’s …

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I remember sitting at my desk in school, looking at the exam questions, and wishing I was the smartest person in the world.  I had this fantasy of never having to study, never having to do hours and hours of homework, and never having to turn down a social invitation because I had a project that was due. But, alas and alack, I wasn’t the smartest person in the world and I had to study relentlessly if I wanted to …

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Are we deliberately trying to set ourselves up as the country that is becoming a nation of morons? I just read a very disturbing article written by a teenager who says, “According to guidelines endorsed by the National Education Association (NEA), a student should be assigned no more than 10 minutes per grade level per night. For example, a first grader should only have 10 minutes of homework, a second grader, 20 minutes, and so on. This means that a …

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In several of the articles I’ve written, I have bemoaned the fact that our children are not being taught properly and that we are spawning a dumbing down of America. Some of my major points have been that there may come a time when we have no electricity and therefore, no capability of using our cell phones, computers, and a myriad of other electronic devices.  I was less concerned about our timesaving conveniences and more concerned about our children not …

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There has been a big push in this country to get away from the old-fashioned concept of learning “the three R’s: Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic.” Almost all of our schools have abandoned the idea of teaching cursive writing because the gurus of education have decreed that it is more important for a child to learn how to type because everything is now geared toward the computer and texting; they say that cursive writing is time-consuming and not as useful as …

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I have a deep and abiding love for education.  It opens you up to new worlds and broadens your horizons.  It exposes you to the customs and mores of other cultures and acts as a deterrent to prejudice because it allows you to see yourself and your beliefs in the larger scheme of life.  It’s like standing at the foot of a majestic mountain and knowing that your importance pales in significance. Perhaps this, more than anything else, is why …

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A few decades ago, when a child entered the hallowed halls of higher learning, it was the mark of accomplishment.  Most people acknowledged that the student was intelligent and his college diploma would open doors to whatever field he wanted to enter. They also assumed that his earning capacity would be much greater than those who didn’t graduate from college.  Of course, that was in the days before Bill Gates blew that kind of thinking out of the water when …

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There is a lot of talk about today’s 65 being yesterday’s 45 and that does seem to be true.  They are certainly much more energetic and interested in so much more than they used to be.  These are the baby boomers and they lead very active lives and are still holding responsible jobs.  But now I look at another parallel.  Is today’s college diploma the equivalent of yesterday’s high school diploma?  It certainly seems to be. I won’t say that …

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America has been losing the competitive edge after so many years of being on top.  We saw it in the schools when the byword was that it’s more important that students should feel good about themselves than learn useless information in their classes. I’ve spoken to teachers from the elementary school grades up through college level and they are all saying the same thing.  The “leave no child behind” policy that we embraced was the most misguided policy we could …

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